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` G. CROWTHER.

BEDSTEAD. No. 316,333. Patented' Apr. 21, 1835.

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NiTn STATES .PATENT Trice.

GEORGE CROWTHER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THEODORE NIEMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

BEDSTEAD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,335, dated April 21, 1885.

Application filed March 31l 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE CROWTHER, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Slat-Fasteners for Bedsteads, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an improvement in those bedsteads whose bottoms or supports for the bedding comprise series of IO wooden slats; and the invention consists in a substitute for the customary wooden guards or space-blocks-such as are usually glued in the side-rail rabbets-to hold the slats their proper distance apart. The improvement comprises a tongue or guard, preferably composed of sheet metal, so stamped, by means of a suitable die, as to possess two spurs, which enable it, by a few blows given by a hammer or mallet, to be securely fastened to the rail.

2o A saw cut or kerf in the slat end, by engaging over such tongue, causes the slat to be retained securely and accurately in place.

In comparison with the ordinary wooden space-blocks, the device is stronger, more durable, heater, cheaper, and more vermin-proof. In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents, by perspective view, portions of a side rail and slat of a bedstead embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a profile of my guard 3o or tongue in its preferred form. Fig. 3 represents, by top view, a portion of such abcdstead with its tongues and slats in position.

Figs. et and 5 show modifications of my slatguard.

A may represent customary bed-post; B, side rail; b, side-rail rabbet; C, tongue or guard having abody of rectangular form; c c', spurs thereof.

D represents wooden slats; d, saw cuts or 4o kerfs in their ends of dimensions just sufticient to receive and snugly inclose the appropriate tongues, of which there are two to each slat.

A set of tongues being, by means of a ham metallic guards possess several notable advantages-for example, they are more per- 5 5 manent, their shape and their mode of attachment being such as to dispense with the use either of nails or of the more customary and general fastening by gluing. The usual fast ening, glue, is liable to give way with a 6o sudden strain or blow, or by the softening effeet of continuous wet weather, or of scalding water employed to destroy' vermin. The fastening, being partly metallic, is far less favorable to vermin, to which metal surfaces are notoriously obnoxious. When the rabbet, as

is usually the case, is formed by nailing or gluing the slat-supporting cleat to the rail proper, my metallic guards constitute a valuable additional bond between these two mem- 7o bers.

Than the common blocking, the present device possesses a neater and more finished appearance, can be applied in a small fraction of the time and at one-half the cost, and is im- 7 5 mediately available, it not being` necessary to await the drying of glue, none being employed.

The tongue or guard may be varied in nonessential particulars for example, it may have a cutting or piercing top edge, (see Fig. 4 or Fig. 5,) and the slat be applied by pressure or percussion, in which case no kerf in the slat is necessary.

I claim as new and of my inventionl. In combination with a bedstead frame and slats, the slat-fasteners consisting of vertical plates or metallic tongues C, having spurs c and c', the upper edges of the plates or tongues being formed to receive the ends of the slats in line therewith and transverse of the bedstead-frame.

2. The combination, withabedstead-frame, of the tongues C, having spurs c c', and arranged transverse ofthe rabbets, and the slats D, having longitudinal kerfs d in their ends occupied by the upper edges ot' the tongues.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a slatfastener for bedsteads, consisting of a tongue, C, having a body of rectangular form, provided with spurs o and c', and an upper edge adapted to enter slat ends in line therewith.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

Attest: GEORGE CROWTHER.

GEO. H. KNIGHT, S. S. CARPENTER.

IUO 

